Global Assessment of Wild Mammals Kept as Pets, 702 Species

702 mammal species are recorded as being kept as pets, including 300 threatened taxa. The dataset, compiled by Hyago Keslley Lucena Soares and last updated in 2026, likely contains species-level traits and geographic data. It supports research into the conservation risks of the global wild pet trade.

Use Cases

• Modeling phylogenetic clustering of pet species based on the described over-representation of Primates, Carnivora, and Rodentia.
• Analyzing the relationship between species traits like body mass and geographic range and their likelihood of being kept as pets.
• Assessing conservation risks by cross-referencing pet species data with threat status and evolutionary distinctiveness.
• Mapping the reported global extent of the practice using the dataset's representation of at least 65 countries.

Strengths

• Includes records for over 702 mammal species, providing a broad taxonomic scope.
• Explicitly identifies 300 threatened taxa within the dataset.
• Links species to traits such as body mass, geographic range, fecundity, and evolutionary distinctiveness.
• Licensed under CC-BY-4.0 for open reuse.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The author notes the 65-country representation likely reflects research availability rather than the true global extent.

Provenance

Source

Hyago Keslley Lucena Soares via figshare.

Collection Method

Research compilation; methodology suggests aggregation from multiple sources.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-12 04:19:41; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global, with records from at least 65 countries.